Melissa Schirmer

[Insert photo of Melissa]Melissa Schirmer started working as the Archives and Rare Book Library's intern in the fall of the 2013 academic year. Her main project was to compile and put together the Irish Literature Collection exhibit. This exhibit showcases ARB's extensive holdings of literature and drama by Irish authors and playwrites. Melissa also put together the exhibit for the William J. Lawrence Notebook Collection. The Lawrence Collection consists of 99 handwritten notebooks containing his research on the Irish stage from 1630 to 1911. Melissa's last official project was the creation of the Edinburgh Urban Ghost Story website. As part of an honor's seminar, "The Culture of Books and Reading," Melissa and class went on a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, where they were challenged to collectively write a ghost story.

Melissa also helped move various past exhibits over to a new Wordpress platform to make those exhibits more accessible and easier to maintain. When UC's library websites needed to be moved to a new processor in the 2014 academic year, Melissa helped move ARB's content onto the new content management system.

Melissa will graduate in 2014 with a degree in English, Rhetoric and Professional Writing, and a minor in Communications. She hopes to work in children's trade book publishing where she can make reading her full-time job.

• The Irish Literature Collection
• The William J. Lawrence Notebooks
• An Edinburgh Urban Ghost Story